If you’ve been to this site before you know that I’ve been building a ring modulator for Bill Graham to use with his Rhodes for the better part of a year. If I had enough time to do it right it’d take me less than a week, it’d be stable, and I wouldn’t be worried that a 3 foot tumble would render it useless. But alas, Bill had some gigs coming up, and I wanted to put this project to rest in the interest of getting some of my time back, so I resorted to some rather ridiculous means to complete it. What follows is not to be emulated or admired, merely witnessed.

Having assembled the circuit on a breadboard in the previous post, I had a working prototype that if you pinched the alligator clips just right, would produce the effect I was looking for. I had a day or so to get this thing boxed up and stable enough to work at some gigs, not nearly enough to design the PCB, etch, reassemble, test and ship. What’s a time-starved designer to do? Box up the prototype breadboard and all, right into the oversized power supply box, wiring up the controls right to the front panel.

I started the process by first removing the breadboard strips from the substrate they were attached to. The entire breadboard wouldn’t fit assembled into the case so I simply transferred the screw hole locations from the substrate to the new case so I could attach the strips to the inside. After drilling and attaching the strips it looked something like the picture to the left.

Moving the controls from the board to the panel was easy enough. As you can see I had to settle for using the PCB mount pots I ordered expecting to mount this on a board, rather than the panel mount ones which are much easier to solder wire to. Live and learn I guess. I drilled holes for the 4 controls knobs (Frequency, Depth, Pre and Post Gain) in a row on the panel, along with two more for the input and output. I tried to keep everything on one detachable panel so that if I ever did get around to designing and etching a board I could replace the breadboard strips with it and not have to make any other modifications, I did, after all, order two of everything. I do think ahead on occasion.

With the wiring soldered to the pots I jammed the other ends of jumper wire where the pots used to reside on the board and ran a final test. Everything appeared to be working, so I wired up the power directly to the terminal strips and packaged it all together. There, done. For now.

Not that it sounds any different than the last audio samples I posted, here are some new samples from the last test run before Bill came and fetched it for a gig:

Guitar Tremolo

Guitar Bells

Random Frequency Changes

So I’m calling this project done. I may come back to it and do it right some day, but that won’t be anytime soon…

Well, it’s been a while so a big rambling update is probably in order here:

First, the wife and I made the decision to go ahead with a kitchen remodel we’ve been planning for several years this last month (May). I know the last time I posted was March, but April was busy for other reasons. Other than a little wall arranging, we did the entire thing ourselves from demolition to crown molding. That’s a post in and of itself, maybe sometime at the end of the month.

Second, I took a new position within my company as a Software Manager. If you’re familiar with Agile Scrum methodology, I’m basically a ScrumMaster for 4+ teams. If I were to visit a seer today my fortune would be “I see a shortage of time in your future”.

Third, I started re-reading Godel, Escher, Bach sometime in April with the intent of understanding more than 50% of it. I get a little bit more out of it every time I read it, but the more I understand the more I question it. Another post.

Fourth, and most interesting for those who actually come here, I got a chance to wrap up several STFUnity tracks. Here’s a bit of detail on the ones that are ready for press:

Apothecurious

This track is massive. Huge. As with every STFUnity song, the collaboration effort is an experiment in and of itself. On this one I played the part of outro writer, as most of the track was completed by Bill and Jason over at their studio, with a solo tracked by Eric Fontaine on the Saxophone. I was chartered to piece together an outro to the song based on the elements within the song. I wanted to make sure that my effort wasn’t a simple copy/paste/rearrange, as this would be entirely too obvious. So, I employed the GOLSequencer in another creative way.

First, I made 15 or 16 tracks to house the song elements I wanted to play with for the outro. Creative restraint is something I like to play with, so I made a rule for myself that no outside tracks or instruments could be used to make sound, only the existing recorded material. I made a rough arrangement of tracks, selected some effects to timestretch, bit reduce, saturate, and otherwise mangle the audio into an unrecognizable fury. Then, in order to destroy any sense of predictability, I mapped the GOLSequencer’s note on events via MIDI to the “Speaker On” automation control in Ableton Live. I recorded one pass of automation, then I mapped the note on events to various effect controls, recording another lane of automation to randomize the effect on/off states, hard/soft knee compression ratios, etc. The result can be heard in the outro of Apothecurious here. You should listen to the whole song though, it’s rad as hell.

Th’mipwians

Notably Th’mipwians is a lost book of the bible, missing because the person responsible forgot to write it. It’s also a STFUnity song. Written in a single session by Jason and Bill, I added the sound design and ambiance that I’m known for on this project. Introducing a new creative restraint: only use ambience/texture that I’ve previously used in other STFUnity tracks. I did less to modify the noise and texture other than repitching it to fit the time signature of the song. The goal here was to unify the song with the rest of the STFUnity material in a cohesive way, rather than the total sonic destruction on the outro to Apothecurious. Check out Th’mipwians over here.

Coming Up

We’ve got a few more tracks to wrap up for STFUnity, and then some work to get the release format put together. What, you didn’t hear? STFUnity is a video game, the tracks we’re writing are for the different levels in the game. More on that later.

After wrapping up this STFUnity stuff I’ll be releasing a short piece called BFault and Loose Canons, which is several experiments in canon structure and fugues, and an excuse to write a few simple pieces of music inspired by Godel, Escher, Bach. I’m also collaborating with John Keston over at AudioCookbook.org on a project for mobile devices, look for that in upcoming posts as well.

Updates and articles will be monthly at best right now while I catch up with my real life.

About a year ago I posted an article about a Ring Modulator prototype I had created using 2 audio transformers and some matched diodes. The design was beautifully simple, and I may return to it someday, but it had a number of shortcomings. The circuit I started with would have needed a preamp for my input signal and a separate oscillator. In addition, I would have probably needed some means of amplifying the output signal, and mixing the effected and un-effected signals together. I’m not quite good enough with circuits to throw all of those disparate components together on the fly, so I sought out another circuit that had this integrated into the design.

I came across this design based on the AD633 chip and a reference to a design by Roman Sowa:

I actually found several different circuits based on Roman Sowa’s design, but I liked this one. It was clear and concise, easy to read, and split the components up into easy to understand modules. You can clearly see the input stage, the oscillator (with waveform selector…another bonus), the multiplier and the output stage. I got to work in the basement prototyping this design to see how it sounded.

Most of the components I used were whatever I had on hand, with the exception of the very expensive AD633 chips (8 bucks from digikey). The pots I used were whatever linear equivalent pots I had laying around. I figured that would work for the prototype testing, if I liked how everything was turning out I could pick up the real pots as part of a second order, and design the PCB while I waited for them. The power supply is an old kit I built up about a decade ago from Craig Anderton’s book…still delivers 18 V as steadily as the day I built it. You’ll note the schematic calls for 15 V, but the TL072 and AD633 chips this circuit is based on can easily handle 18 V, so I just used what I had.

Since I had an input stage to work with this time, I tested with a guitar.

Here is just a quick run up the strings, once with modulation, once without…and an accompanying sweep of the frequency:

Ring Modulator Strings

I just goofed off with this next test, playing some scales and random notes with the frequency mostly held steady:

Ring Modulator Notes

Then I played some chords, usually changing the carrier frequency after each strum:

Ring Modulator Chords

Finally, here is an example of using a ring modulator as a seriously tremolo:

Ring Modulator Tremolo

So there we have it. Very little carrier leakage (to be resolved with tweaking the null pots), steady oscillation without the need of a separate carrier instrument, everything integrated into one circuit. Maybe I’ll toy with putting the oscillation frequency knob into a pedal…

Look out for the PCB design next, hopefully it won’t take me another year.

While I thought the GOL Sequencer Bank would get the bulk of my attention this Winter, it turns out I’m getting far more requests to update to the Harmonic Table controller. Among them were Midi Input capabilities, buttons lighting up, and some bug fixes here and there. All that completed, I give you Harmonic Table 0.5. Here is the breakdown:

Midi Input – This feature allows you to accept midi note on and off events and display them as key presses on the main screen. I see this as a learning tool that allows a user to easily see the relationships between notes. Note: At this time it is difficult to keep up with a rapid number of midi input messages. If you’re using this as a learning tool, it is recommended that you reduce the tempo of your sequencer so you can see these relationships without missing any notes.

Midi Thru – This is just another aspect of midi input. When this is turned on any messages appearing on the midi input will be mirrored to the midi output you have selected

You can download it here: HarmonicTable 0.5

Lighting up buttons and accepting midi input introduced a few performance related bugs, but nothing that should keep anyone from using the tool. I’ll have this cleaned up in a future release.

The main target in the next release is touch screen support. I’m getting a lot of great info offline from a few people who are interested in testing this for me, so look for that very soon.

This weekend I tuned in to a major radio station for the first time in a very long time, and was greeted with an advertisement I didn’t expect. Instead of load local car salesmen or a screechy techno beat inviting me to a night club where ladies get in free on Tuesdays, I was implored to write my congressman in opposition to the “Performance Tax”.

“Performance what?” I said.

I scrambled for the iPhone to try and understand what this new-fangled tax was, and after some extensive research (not on the iPhone), I got the real skinny on this “Performance Tax”. It turns out this is an old measure I heard about sometime ago called the Performance Rights Act, that’s been getting renewed attention

The Performance Rights Act is basically a measure drawn up by congress and supported by the RIAA, SoundExchange, and apparently Billy Corgan to make sure that performers are paid for the broadcast of their recordings.

You might be thinking “I thought broadcasters already had to pay the artists to play their songs". Technically they have to pay royalties to songwriters and publishers via ASCAP and BMI and other performance rights management associations. the argument here is that it leaves the performers of the song out in the cold. This includes people like session musicians, backup singers, and well, cover artists I suppose. Yep, that means that Orgy didn’t get a red cent in the form of royalties for their cover of ‘Blue Monday’, but I’m alright with that.

There is a whole lot to debate on this topic, and I only bit off the first few topics that were of most interest to me. Here they are in the order of least importance:

Does the broadcaster benefit directly from the songwriter/publisher, or the sound recording?

To me, This is the most immediate question. The current system is silly by modern standards in that the broadcaster indirectly pays the writer and publisher of the song, when they are actually benefitting directly from the recording. The written song is useless to a broadcaster until its put into a format he can broadcast. The broadcaster certainly shouldn’t be required to pay for both. It seems to me that if we were to remodel this system that we would create in a such a way that those who benefit directly from the work of another are required to pay for it:

Broadcasters would pay catalog holders (record labels) for access to their recordings. Catalog holders would in turn seek out the best artists to fill out their catalog, the goal being to sell access to songs in the catalog that fit the audience of a particular demographic. Artists would in turn find the best songs to play, whether they write them or buy them on the market from someone else.

If the current Act is passed and broadcasters are forced to pay this new fee, then perhaps the artists should be paying the composer/publisher royalty, not the broadcaster. The transfer of direct benefit occurred for one industry, why not another?

Why continue forcing a square peg into a round hole?

The impetus for this legislation can all be tied back to the transition from physical media (CD’s, LP’s, Cassettes, 8-tracks) to non-physical media (mp3s and digital broadcast). The existing rules worked when the sales of physical media were good enough to support the label and the pittance they paid their artists, but now that there is no physical media to sell the labels need money. The broadcasters aren’t performing the “free advertisement” service they once were since nobody is going out to buy the record of the artist they hear on the radio anyway (and why would they, they just need to tune into the radio to hear it played 15 times a day). The whole system needs to be scrapped, not just tweaked. Adding fees to the broadcaster isn’t going to restructure the industry in favor of the labels again, and it does very little for the artist. Perhaps a system like I mentioned above would be more appropriate, but even it shouldn’t be set in stone. Technology is changing constantly. Tracing the means of musical reproduction from sheet music to the digital file will make it obvious how many times our contractual process for managing those relationships has been reworked.

What this means is that we need to go back to the drawing board and come up with something that we can agree on for the duration of what is most likely a very short contract. Which brings me to my next point…

Why is the government negotiating contracts between artists, labels, broadcasters, writers and publishers?

The relationships between these industries are effectively contract negotiations. The catalog provider (record label) has this group of artists, these broadcasters would like to play those artists. Settle the terms in a contract, if those terms are violated then seek adjudication. Both industries stand to make (and lose) and lot of money by playing or not playing ball. Its an exercise in very simple risk management. Here are a few examples:

In my catalog of recordings I have the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Its not a risky catalog to broadcast, therefore I can assume I will fetch a good value from the broadcasters for access to this catalog of recordings. In turn, I am required to pay the artists who recorded these songs a value that they negotiated, along with any contract negotiations I made with back up singers, session drummers, and composers to produce the song.

Likewise, I have a catalog full of Aphex Twin, Merzbow and Muslimgauze . Its a risky catalog, I don’t know if I’ll be able to fetch a good value for it. Perhaps I negotiate a contract with the broadcaster that allows me access to a per-play fee. If I do, and one of these songs becomes a hit, I will see an excellent return on investment. I am of course required to pay my artists, backup singers and composers the value I negotiated with them, and likewise down the chain.

I can even see artists independently getting in on this game, owning their own recordings and targeting broadcasters whose audience regularly listens to their music. For instance, if I were an indie electronic artist I would seek out college radio stations and encourage them to purchase my catalog for an excellent value.

Institutionalizing what is effectively contract negotiations leaves very little room for innovation in business models, and of course, is asking government to perform a function they were never meant to perform.

At any rate, the claim is that this legislation will put digital broadcasters like Pandora in parity with terrestrial broadcasters. Sure, but the disparity was created by the acts of a federal panel several years prior, making the fees for internet radio exorbitant. What’s an internet broadcaster to do? Why not support a bill that makes it harder for the competitor to compete (which is to say, use the same strategy my competitor did to raise my fees). As you can see we have a pattern of using regulation to fix prior regulation, ad nauseum. This seems to be the pattern when we ask government to be our contract negotiator.

I’ve left out a whole lot

Will this new legislation stifle or enhance independent artists? What will be the effect on the broadcast industry? Will broadcasters stop playing music altogether? There are a lot of unanswered questions here, but I think the points I made above make it clear what my position is on the Act; no good can come of this. As an artist I don’t know what my delivery format will be in the future, to be beholden to making potentially 50% of what I could be making because a record label took the other 50% of the royalty is unacceptable to me. To let the government write the terms of my contract for me, with their inability to expediently respond to market changes would be absurd.

Several months ago Jason asked me if I could fix a MIDI Guitar. I’d didn’t have the slightest idea how to fix one, and only had speculative knowledge about how they work, so naturally I said “yeah, sure, piece of cake”. If I’d have known at the time the kind of gear lust this project would create I might have turned him down at the outset.

The Casio PG-380 is a guitar that translates the notes you pick on the strings into MIDI Notes. Think of it like a Keytar, only its ACTUALLY a guitar. You may think that the name brand somehow reduces the quality of this particular instrument, but you’d be mistaken; this baby is top of the line. It can translate amplitude, hammer-ons, and string bends with very little latency. I’d soon find out how hard to find, and how expensive, buying one of these would be.

The problem sounded simple: only the bottom two strings of the guitar were producing notes. At first I figured this must be a calibration issue or something, so I tweaked some of the pots on the board, messed with action height, etc in an effort to get the MIDI pick up to hear and translate the notes. This effort proved fruitless so I turned to the web.

How do you translate audio into midi? I had a vague idea how you could do this with envelope followers and some basic filter networks, but I wanted to understand how this thing actually worked before I could say with any certainty what was wrong with it. I looked around for a long time on the web and turned up nothing related to the technical aspects of converting the output of a guitar pickup to MIDI. In the end I relied on the premise that there must be a filter network to divide the audio by string, and a logic device to convert that analog value to a digital stream of bytes. Since 2 of the 6 strings were working, I could assume that the logic device was probably ok. I turned my attention to what I assumed was the filter network.

I cracked open the case and had a look around. I followed the traces from the pickup back to the 6 calibration pots to the series of capacitors that make up the filter network. I didn’t see anything visibly wrong so I returned to the internet to see if there were any already reported issues for the PG-380. Sure enough I came across this post, which identified a common problem as deteriorating electrolytic capacitors in the filter network. It turns out that electrolytic capacitors go ‘stale’ if left unpowered for a long stretch of time. So, just replace the caps, right? Almost.

I’m usually pretty reckless (or overconfident), especially with my own gear, but when it’s someone else’s very expensive stuff on the line I tend to be a little more cautious. I prefer to stick with old PCBS, with large thru hole components. Think of your grandpa’s large print books. This was a modern board with tiny surface mount components, something I’ve never dealt with before. I searched around for some techniques I could use to get these little caps off the board and settled on the “hot tweezer” method. This is essentially taking a blow torch to a pair of tweezers until they’re hot enough to melt solder, then gripping the cap and pulling it off the board. This worked for the most part, though there were some persistent ones that I ended up just jamming a soldering iron under an pulling off. That “technique” ended up being a little messy; there is a plastic separator under the caps that melted all over the place. Those tweezers came in handy for scraping that crap off.

As for the replacement caps, I went with the smallest long lead electrolytic capacitors I could find. I had some of these lying around already and ordered the balance from Mouser. Along with some other stuff for future projects (and posts). Replacement was easy. Cut the leads short, flux the pads, tin the soldering iron, and tack one lead in place. After tacking one lead solder the other post, then fully solder the tacked post. Just like thru hole only you’re tacking the caps on top of the board. It looks a little goofy, but not as goofy as playing a keytar…

Capacitors in place I plugged the guitar in and went to work. Whoa. I hadn’t imagined using a guitar to trigger a synthesizer would be so fun.

Here is a drone sound, with a completely unnecessary string bend at the end:

Drone

Here are some chords, which I thought the pg-380 did a pretty decent job of sensing:

Chords

And how about a silly FM bass chord:

Bass Scale

I’m addicted and I have to give this thing back at some point. Looking around on the internet, these puppies go for upwards of $1500. So, if you have a less than perfect PG-380 for sale, perhaps one that needs some new capacitors, I’ll take it off your hands.

I’ve undertaken a new musical collaboration with a very eclectic (and eccentric) group of guys called STFUnity. The project for me started when Bill mentioned putting together a completely virtual collaboration between he, Jason Blain, and myself. The idea was that rather than the traditional setting of getting a couple musicians in a room, rehearsing some material, then playing it live, we’d instead pass around a bunch of tracks and see where each member took the material. I’d never worked in this format before, and it seemed like fun so I jumped on it.

There are no set roles in the group, with any member contributing any element to the song. Still, I feel that my capacity in the collaboration falls in the realm of sound design; I usually contribute textures and atmosphere, with the occasional laying down a percussion track or some programming. The exception being Cottonhammer, which I want to point out specifically

Cottonhammer  is special to me as its the first official outing with my homegrown tool, the GOL Sequencer Bank. I struggled to find ways to incorporate it into my existing tracks. Its too non-deterministic on its own, and the unpredictability of it does not lend itself to a song that has an existing structure (at least not in my travels). So, I changed how I used the tool and stopped trying to place too much direct control over it. Cottonhammer is the GOL Sequencer Bank working autonomously with myself playing live drums simultaneously. Cottonhammer is an attempt to interact musically with a machine.

I arranged four of the six sequencers to play a different range of notes; I didn’t want too many tracks overlapping in frequency range. The other two sequencers I outputted to some very glitchy clicks and pops to keep from having too many melodic instruments fighting for space. I find the output rather soothing despite the complete lack of control and the machine gun percussion.

So far, there are four tracks completed with several more still in the works. I’ll post updates as the project continues, listen and let me know what you think.

STFUnity

Back in June, I wrote a short piece on changing my music studio environment. At the close of that piece I mentioned a buddy of mine was selling an old Alesis DM-5 kit, and that I would soon be incorporating that into my setup. Although 6 months isn’t exactly soon, I managed to tackle the task thanks to a well-timed Christmas gift and an extended vacation.

For years I’ve been trying to create a fully hybrid drum kit consisting of both electronic and acoustic elements. I took a step in that direction with the Mandala (which is playing in even larger role in the latest kit iteration), but to complete the project I needed multiple surfaces, not just multiple zones on one surface to realize what I was looking for. I reasoned that buying a simple electronic drum kit and integrating it into my acoustic kit would do that job. I would of course need something that translated the trigger inputs into MIDI (I just can’t tolerate the stock drum brain sounds), and the Alesis DM-5 kit would do it on the cheap.

I bought the used DM-5 kit not long after my last post, but ran into a hurdle. I use a Pearl rack, but the triggers all use fairly typical 1 1/2” tube clamps. I could have just bought all new clamps for the square rack, but that’s almost as expensive as buying a new rack in the first place, plus I was angling for a more universal Gibraltar rack instead (for mounting a number of other new things in the near future). So, when the wife asked what I wanted for Christmas, I sent her a link to a Gibraltar GRS-850DBL. For those with two kick drums this is a rack that will span both, for guys like me who don’t want to tune two kick drums to each other, this is a curved rack with a left side expansion.

In a matter of hours the new rack was up with the additional triggers. Everything was wired and ready to go. I created a quick drum kit in Battery with the most irritating glitch sounds I could find in five minutes, and recorded a quick and dirty test of the system that sounds a little like this:

TriggerTest

All technique and mixing aside, not a bad first outing with the hybrid drum kit. I have a few loose ends to tie up:

• Mount my laptop directly to the rack for stability (parts on the way)
• 5 pedals is not enough, two more will complete my feet.
• Devise a way of “patching” triggers around, sort of like a trigger rather than audio patch bay.

For those with picture lust, here are some more images:

A few weeks back I wrote about a little fitness experiment I had started to try and reduce the amount of time I spent training while maximizing results. During the experiment I needed a place to document my workouts so I could review my progress and see if I was meeting my goals, as well as plan future workouts. I had some basic requirements in mind when selecting a logging system:

• I need to enter workouts as I complete them – I have a terrible memory. By the time I’ve finished doing a round of squats or a half-marathon, I’ve forgotten my time. Its not the kind of thing that I keep in my head. I need to be able to enter workouts immediately. As in, right after I finish the lift, run, swim, whatever.
• I need to view and measure past performance – Training is one of the only things I systemize. I think I might train so that I have something to systemize. I want to be able to quickly look up what my 5k times are trending. I need to see what my last deadlift max was so I can plan the next one.
• I need it to be something I actually use – Sounds simple, but if I have to go out of my way to use the tool, I won’t use it. Bonus if the tool is something I already use for other stuff.

With that in mind I started my search. Here are some of the tools I played with:

Paper and Pen – I think this is how everyone starts. Just bring a little notepad and write it down as you go. This was how I recorded and measured for years, but you try scanning cahier after cahier looking for your most recent 5k time. Recording your workouts is fast…reviewing them isn’t.

Daily Burn – I tried this site out because they had a decent iPhone interface and I could use it online. The tracker is a little clunky, and having to enter the data into the little boxes gets old fast. It seems like it’s geared for people interested in diet and weight loss, so if that’s you’re thing, maybe its for you.

SpringPad – Ugh, don’t get me started.

Beyond The White Board – If only I had my own personal white board at the gym…I haven’t actually tried this one out, but it looked promising. If you’re strictly a Crossfitter, you should check it out. It does a lot of the tracking for you, and if you’re into the nutrition thing, it can help you track that too.

Training Peaks – Great site if you’re only interested in endurance sports, but since that makes up only half of my programming, it wasn’t a one-stop shop for me.

After exhausting the methods above, I chose to go the freeform route and use Evernote as my workout log. I already use Evernote for everything else, so there was no reason not to leverage it for my workout log as well. I created a basic system in Evernote that allowed me to quickly add my workouts in anywhere I happened to be, get access to old performance characteristics, and to track my areas of concentration to make sure I wasn’t overdoing any particular sport. Here’s how it works:

Create a Notebook for your workouts

This is easy, just create a notebook in Evernote to store your  workouts.

Enter your workouts right after (or even before) you conduct them.

Make sure you write a review (more on this in another article). This is all freeform so enter any information you need to know. (Note: in the picture I made a mistake…its supposed to be a frightening 50 Power Clean Burpees).

Tag your workouts.

Tags can be anything from running, cycling, or specific stuff that you want quick access to like “5K”, or “The Bear”. This is especially helpful if you have workouts with bizarre names. You can also have sub-tags. For instance I have a tag called run with the sub-tags 5k, 10k, 13.1, etc. This helps your organize when the number of tags you have starts to get out of hand.

Create a workout reference.

If you have a workout that is always the same set of complicated movements, its a good idea to create a reference to that workout by creating a new note, putting the contents of the workout in it, then tagging that note with the workout name. Then you can search for the workout by tag, see the workout reference and each time you’ve repeated it. You probably want to keep these references in a different notebook than your workout log to avoid clutter.

Create Saved Searches to access information quickly.

Examples “All running workouts from the last 7 days” or ”All running workouts from last week”.

If you look at my public workout log most of it should make sense, though I have developed my own personal shorthand (10x10xOHS@145 means 10 sets, 10 reps Overhead Squat with 145lbs). I’ll post a legend some day.

This should be plenty to get you going. With Evernote you can also make your notebook public if you’re sharing information with others. An additional feature of Evernote is it’s open API. This means you can access your notes from script (php, c#, etc) and display it somewhere, organize and manipulate it in various ways, etc. I’m working on extending my personal/shared training log as we speak…but that’s for another article.

Recently a friend asked how hard it was to replace the CMOS battery in Korg DW-8000 keyboard. I assumed it couldn’t be that hard, looked up what kind of battery it accepted (CR2032) and said “yeah, 5 minute job”. I failed to take into account early 80s circuit construction. Sure, its no Maestro PS-1B, but I certainly discovered some “opportunities” upon cracking open the case…

Getting it open is easy enough. As with any device built before the iPod age there are far too many screws… 2 in each corner, several straight up the middle, a bunch to hold the rather flimsy keyboard tray in place. etc. NOTE: To open this thing, you need to turn it upside down, make sure you support the bottom right corner so the joystick doesn’t get smashed.

Once open, you’re probably presented with a ton of dust and 3 filthy circuit boards populated with far-from-RoHS compliant components. Dead center in the 2nd board is the battery…

…which is soldered to the board.

This probably only sounds ridiculous to me, but really, who solders a consumable part directly to the board. Honestly, this kind of thing calls into question the entire circuit design. I got the dead little bastard freed from its pinholes and went to grab another battery holder. I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be able to find a holder with the same pin out, so I opted to get whatever CR2032 battery holder I could find and shoehorn it in there.

I found some suggestions on the internet for doing this, one involved adding some extra wires to the pins of the holder and running them under the new holder. After examining the board I decided a more stable replacement would be to drill another hole inline with the positive lead circuit trace. This is better explained with pictures:

Grab the tools you need. The battery holder (RS #270-009), a couple of reamers, and a tiny drill bit. You can go with just the drill bit, but if you need to widen any holes I like these little reamers.

Look for a spot around the battery circle that is still sitting on the positive lead on the reverse side of the board. Its easy to see through the board to spot the lead, and for me the hole was right next to the T in “BATT”. In this picture the hole has already been drilled.

Start drilling on the reverse side, at least enough so that the lead won’t tear when you drill through on the other side.

Mount and solder the battery holder (making sure that the polarity is correct), then insert the battery. Done.

No sweat, but certainly not a 5 minute job. The moral of this story? If you’re designing a circuit with a replaceable part (like a battery), please don’t solder it directly to the board. The amateur that has to repair it in 25 years will never thank you, but they’ll still appreciate it.